New contributions to old issues of the theory of social classes

Abstract

Empirical research and theoretical debate on social classes have been intensifying during the last few years. John Roemer's proposals are a landmark in this debate. The first part of this article is a summary of such proposals. In the second part of it, a wide range of recent contributions have been confronted as to the following issues: 1) the significance of the non-economic dimensions in the concept of social class; 2) the notion of interest in the theory of social classes; 3) the interrelation between the position in the class structure and social classes as social forces; 4) holism and individualism, culture and practical reason in the class analysis; 5) technological determinism or class struggle: for a sociology of injustice. At last, the author proposes a theoretical and empirical research program, taking the analysis of the social representations of justice and injustice as one of its axes, and enabling to reconsider both the classical definitions and the reciprocal relationships between the sociological problematics of social classes and that of social stratification.